Lacoste / Spring 2014 RTW

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With its 80th birthday on the calendar, Lacoste has cause to celebrate this year, and one need but glance at the anniversary window displays of the flagship store on Fifth Avenue to get a sense of the heritage. As the inventor of the first metal racket, the first tennis ball machine, and, of course, the iconic polo shirt, René Lacoste was a man who preferred to look to the future than the past, and it’s a sentiment shared by the brand’s current creative director Felipe Oliveira Baptista. “I wanted to take the classic fabrics that are familiar to Lacoste in this very light and technical direction,” said Baptista backstage before show.

Using the simple lines of a tennis court as the overarching framework for his collection, Baptista ran trompe l’oeil inlay in architectural formation along the border of cropped pique tees and A-line skirts. There was an echo of the clean and chic 1930s blueprint set forth by the label’s founder in white piping along polo shirts, which were bonded at the seams for an extra sense of weightlessness. That airy feeling continued through a series of diaphanous organza-like nylon looks, inset with graphic opaque pockets, cuffs, and collars. His clever spin on tennis white would likely appeal to any number of stylish players currently battling it out on the courts of the US Open, but it’s also in line with the sun-blanched and optic white palette we’ve seen on the runway so far—not to mention the longer, leaner 1990s silhouette and barely there nude slip-on shoe. With his languid, minimalist sportswear, Baptista is tapping into Lacoste’s history, and keeping his eye on the ball here and now too.